Notre Dame following USC's model

LOS ANGELES – Under siege, and in need of a quick fix? Build a brick wall.

It's the model Pete Carroll used at USC a decade ago, and it's now the turnaround method for Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly. In his third season in South Bend, Ind., Kelly has orchestrated a fantastic turnaround for the top-ranked Fighting Irish, in large part because of a revamped, revitalized and terrorizing defense.

Notre Dame visits the Coliseum on Saturday night, and if the Trojans are to hand the Fighting Irish their first loss of the season and end their rivals' national-championship hopes, they will need to solve a defense that has allowed only eight touchdowns in 11 games and has allowed the sixth-fewest yards in the country.

Plus, USC has to do it with a 19-year-old quarterback who has never started a college game.

''Hardly anybody has done anything against them all year,'' USC coach Lane Kiffin said plainly this week when asked about facing a dominating defense, the type that used to be commonplace at the Coliseum.

Highlight clips of Carroll's success at USC usually feature the offensive stars: Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Mike Williams, etc. But that was the second wave. When he took over in 2001, Carroll first build his foundation on defense, around players such as Shaun Cody, Matt Grootegoed and Kenechi Udeze.

In 2000, Paul Hackett's final season in charge, USC ranked 79th in the country in scoring defense (28.1). In Carroll's first season, the Trojans improved to 11th (17.9). In Hackett's last season, USC ranked 39th in total defense. Under Carroll, the Trojans moved up to 29th in 2001 and sixth in 2002. Defense set the tone.

Kelly has mirrored that strategy, and since his arrival, Notre Dame's defense has been on a crash diet, shedding points and yards at a rapid rate.

Kelly and defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, whom Kelly brought with him from Cincinnati, took over in 2010 and installed a 3-4 defense. Something had to be done. In Charlie Weis' final season as Notre Dame coach, the Fighting Irish allowed an average of 25.9 points (64rd in the NCAA) and 397.8 yards (86th) per game.

In Kelly's first year, Notre Dame's yards-allowed per game dropped to 357.2 (50th). In 2011, it dropped to 344.7 (30th). This year, the Fighting Irish allow 287.8 yards, the sixth-best total in the country. Notre Dame is tied with Alabama for the stingiest defense in the country, with an average of 10.1 points allowed per game.

''They do a lot well,'' USC center Khaled Holmes said. ''Their front seven is one of the best in the country, for sure. They're big, strong, athletic guys. They know their scheme and they do it really well. They're a great defense.''

Kiffin called Notre Dame ''an old-school football team'' and meant it as a high compliment.

Defensive end Stephon Truitt has 12 sacks, two away from breaking the school's single-season record, but Notre Dame's defense is led by linebacker Manti Te'o, who nearly chose USC out of high school but now is a Heisman Trophy candidate and leads the Fighting Irish with 98 tackles and six interceptions.

The Te'o-led front seven is fearsome, and Notre Dame allows an average of only 92.2 rushing yards.

''Stopping the run is what we're built on,'' Kelly said this week.

Usually, yes, but won't that change this week?

USC quarterback Matt Barkley suffered a shoulder injury last week, so in steps redshirt freshman Max Wittek, who will make his first college start and has thrown only nine passes this season. Won't Kelly alter his game plan a bit and focus on making life miserable for Wittek?

''At this point, for us to go into one game and say, 'All right, we're going to do different things to confuse Max,' that's really crazy,'' Kelly said. ''This guy has watched football all year. He's going to be watching film. He knows our defense. So we're going to do what we do, because that's gotten us to this point.''

Watching film probably can't prepare Wittek for what he will see in person, that being a Notre Dame defense that has allowed only two opponents (Purdue and Pittsburgh) to score more than 14 points in a game.

''They're a great defense,'' Wittek said. ''They've got playmakers all over the field. ... But every defense does have their soft spots. Theirs are obviously limited, being such a great defense, but we are looking forward to taking advantage of some of those soft spots.

''I just want to get that first snap, maybe that first hit, out of the way, and then I'll be ready to go.''